With the Hayabusa hard fork, VeChainThor transitioned from Proof-of-Authority to a decentralized Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) consensus. Block producers are no longer permissioned Authority Nodes but open validators.

Anyone can become a validator by locking 25 million VET as collateral. This collateral is held in a separate Endorser (identity) account. Validators participate in proposing and signing blocks, securing the network through economic incentives rather than committee approval. dPoS opens the validator set to the community while maintaining strong, stake-based security.